What the RAF airman took to war

159 Pages·2015·11.53 MB·English

WHAT THE RAF AIRMAN TOOK
TO WAR
Bill Howard
Photographs by Michael H. Wagner
Foreword by Squadron Leader Geoffrey Wellum DFC
CONTENTS
Foreword
The RAF at War
RAF Motto
Recruitment
Ground Crew
Officer’s Commission
Pilot’s Wings
Flight Sergeant Stripes
Aircraft Identification Aids
A Force of Many Nations
Bomber Command
Maps
Type B Flying Helmet
Type C Flying Helmet
Flying Goggles
Night Adaptation Goggles
Flying Scarf
RAF Shirt
RAF Sweater
Shaving Kit
Ditch Whistle
1930 Pattern Flying Suit
Irvin Parachute
1941 Pattern ‘Mae West’ Life Jacket
Oxygen Mask
1933 Pattern Flying Gauntlets
Type P8 Aircraft Compass
Officer’s Peaked Cap
Forage Caps
Testament
1936 Pattern Flying Boots
1940 Pattern Flying Boots
Good Luck Charms
A Pilot’s Best Friend
Commonwealth Air Units
RAF Escape and Evasion Aids
Scramble Bell
Guinea Pig Club
Survivor Clubs
The WAAF at War
Diary
Letters
Missing-in-Action Letters
Irvin Jacket
Pilot’s Flying Log Book
Combat Reports
Ace of Battle
Prisoners of War
Battle of Britain Medal Grouping
In Memoriam
Bibliography
FOREWORD BY SQUADRON
LEADER GEOFFREY WELLUM
DFC
Seventy-five years ago, a small band of pilots took to the skies above Britain to
defend against the real peril of German invasion. These pilots turned back that
tide and handed Germany its first defeat in the Second World War. It was,
however, a very near thing. Nevertheless, the Germans realised that they had
suffered their first significant defeat and been denied their aim, and they did not
like it.
Those exciting days are distant now, but in the pages of this book, one can
remember those who gave so much in defence of England during that terrible
summer of 1940. Most of my fellow pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain
are gone now. The passing years have thinned our proud ranks and taken away
almost all of those who flew during those four crucial months in 1940. Although
they are gone, I remember my friends and comrades who each gave so much to
defend England.
In these pages the reader can see the tunics that were worn, the flying
equipment that was used and the things that were carried by the nearly 3,000
pilots and aircrew who will forever be remembered as ‘The Few’.
THE RAF AT WAR
Much has been written about the pilots who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF)
during the Second World War. While ‘The Few’ were recognised as the saviours
of England even as the bombs fell, Great Britain successfully resisted the
German attacks with a national response. The latter included the commitment of
pilots of the RAF Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands, the Royal Navy, as
well as that of the people of England.
Because of the romantic image of the fighter pilot, RAF aviators captured
much of the glory in the war’s early days – they provided an inspiring example.
But although the pilots gained much of the credit for victory in what became
known as the Battle of Britain, it is a legacy that has been challenged in recent
years. Some historians have given credit to the Royal Navy for dissuading Hitler
from invading Britain, while others have argued that the Battle of Britain was
won not so much by ‘The Few’, but by the many – the tenacious British citizenry
who were determined to see that democracy would continue in Europe even as
the Axis forces conquered one country after another from 1939 to 1940.
Hurricane fighters of No. 242 Squadron at Duxford. This Hurricane
crashed on 28 March 1941, killing its pilot, Arthur William Smith.
The everyday heroism displayed by the people of Great Britain was inspired
and sustained by the brave example exhibited by the RAF. Whether British born
or as refugees from nations already conquered by the Axis forces, RAF pilots
were motivated to engage the enemy for a variety of reasons. Some were
determined to defend their homeland, while the Belgian, French, Czech and
Polish RAF pilots sought to avenge what had already been inflicted upon their
nations, and to try to turn the tide of fortune. American, Canadian and
Commonwealth nation pilots saw what was happening over Britain as a
battleground for democracy and understood that if the Axis powers were not
defeated, the war would expand. Regardless of national identity or individual
motivation, RAF pilots fought with fierce tenacity.
A German Bf 109E-1, downed near Lewes in August 1940. Unterofficer
Leo Zaunbrecher survived the crash and was captured.
There was a great deal of stress inherent in the operations. Pilots were
awakened to begin a day’s work that would not end until sunset. Transported out
to the airfields, they would wait for the ‘scramble’ call in full kit, playing card
games or reading newspapers to pass the time. When the telephone rang, the
pilots would sprint to their planes and be strapped into their seats. The fighters
would rumble down grassy runways to gain speed for take-off. Once in the air,
just a few minutes of combat could exhaust a pilot flying at 30,000 feet in an
unpressurised aircraft. The noise of battle and the roar of engines pounded on
eardrums and the G-forces associated with the violent twists and turns of
dogfighting brought the pilots to the verge of blacking out. They needed to focus
all of their energy and concentration on flying while their body endured
incredible physical forces. Every pilot knew the dangers of combat flying – they
had lost friends and comrades in fiery crashes or seen young lives ruined by
wounds and the disfigurement caused by burning cockpits. War took its toll on
these young men every day.
RAF pilots re-enacting a ‘scramble’ in 1946. Note the pilot (second left)
carrying a squadron dog in his arms.
Pilot Officer Peter Parrott remembered: ‘once you were in action, you were
too busy trying to shoot something down or trying not to be shot down yourself
to be frightened.’ Pilot Officer John Ellacombe recalled:
[T]here were fourteen, fifteen hours of daylight each day. You were on duty right through. Chaps were
being lost all the time. We had seventeen out of twenty-three killed or wounded in my squadron in less
than three weeks. We had another eight aircraft shot down with the chaps unhurt, including myself
twice. It was a fight for survival. There was a tremendous ‘twitch’. If somebody slammed a door, half
the chaps would jump out of their chairs. There were times when you were so tired, you’d pick up your
pint of beer with two hands. But no one was cowering, terrified in a corner. My greatest fear was that
I’d reach the stage where I’d show fear. But it took me years after the war to get rid of my twitch.
John Ellacombe joined the RAF in 1939 and served in No. 151 Squadron.
Those who served during the Battle of Britain never forgot the experience. It
was, for most, the central moment of their lives. Although many went on to
serve in other places during the war, the experiences of 1940 coloured every
hour and made forgetting the war experience very difficult. In 1972, a historian
wrote to the pilot Ronald ‘Ras’ Berry of No. 603 Squadron requesting
information about ‘his most memorable victory’ during the Battle of Britain.
Berry bluntly responded: ‘My most memorable victory was waking up for
another day having survived the day before.’ Pilot Christopher Foxley-Norris
recalled:
I still don’t like the telephone because you’d be sitting there in the dispersal hut, playing cards or
reading a book or something like that, and the telephone would ring. Everyone froze. An orderly
answered. It might be ‘Squadron scramble’ or something quite unimportant … But the tension which
built up between the ringing of the phone and learning what it was is my hangover from the Battle of
Britain. I still don’t like telephones.
In such simple things was the line between the relatively peaceful life on the
ground and the violent confrontations that took place in the sky. It was a daily